Never
by SVUCSIWTRDOOLluver
Summary: This is a one-shot about Bo and Hope, from the episode where he found her in the basement, trapped under some wooden boxes. She's hurt badly, is he in time to save her? What if he worsens her injuries by trying to save her? And after all the problems and injuries and angst, will they still have each other or not?


**This is a Bo and Hope one-shot, takes place in the episode where Vivian, Carly and Hope are in that basement and then Bo arrives to see Hope unconscious, buried under some boxes and carries her to the ambulance. Very, very angsty, very sad, but also Bope love at the end! Enjoy!**

**PS, the title I just took from the last word, I didn't have any creative energy left to think of a clever title, so I just took the easy way haha.**

**Enjoy!**

"Hope!" Bo said in shock, hurrying to her side and touching her face gently before attempting to remove to boxes pinning her to the ground. When he finally freed her, Bo lifted her in his arms, hurrying out of the basement when he heard sirens coming.

The paramedics took Hope from Bo and laid her on a stretcher, checking her over for injuries when one of them sucked in a deep breath of air and said, "Give me a neck brace stat!"

The man fitted Hope with a neck brace, and Bo was close enough to hear him mutter to the woman medic, "Almost looks like a broken neck."

Bo's world froze at that moment, knowing that the way he carried her, he would've made a broken neck worse. He drove behind the ambulance in his car, freaking out the entire way there.

When the ambulance finally pulled up to the hospital, a team of nurses came out and rolled Hope out, rushing her into the ER with Bo following close behind. He was forced to wait in the waiting room, of course, and he sat there, going over the whole thing in his head.

Lexi finally came out to him, and he looked up at her with wide eyes as she sat down next to him. "Bo," She started, and Bo could see that she had been crying.

"Lexi, just tell me, don't sugar-coat it or anything," He begged, and Lexi covered her eyes, saying,

"She's completely paralyzed, Bo, her spinal cord was severely damaged. The way she hit her head, it snapped her neck, especially with the heavy boxes pressing down on her."

"Oh God," Bo said bleakly, and he squeezed his eyes shut. "Lexi, this is my fault. No, listen to me!" He said through gritted teeth when she started to interrupt him. She fell silent, and Bo said emotionally, "When I found her, all I did was move the boxes and pick her up. I, I didn't even think that she might have a broken neck, and I carried her out, and her neck was bent back the whole time…this is my damned fault!"

"Bo Brady, you listen to me, and you listen to me good," Lexi demanded, forcing him to look her in the eyes. "Her neck was already fully snapped when you carried her out. Nothing could've caused that damage except very heavy pressure, like those boxes. Nothing else," She stated firmly, but Bo had no choice but to still blame himself.

"Is she awake?" Bo asked listlessly, and Lexi hedged,

"Bo, she's in a coma." Bo jerked his head around to stare at her, and she said quietly, "Right after surgery, she slipped into a coma, and we couldn't bring her out of it. Maybe it's for the better, until her neck heals. It's imperative she not move until her neck heals."

He dropped his head into his hands and muttered, "What the hell else can go wrong?" He rubbed his eyes, and Lexi warned,

"Don't think like that Bo. Things can always get worse."

"How? My daughter is scarred for life, from her kidnapping and from her parents always bickering all the time. She's confused, because we're not a family anymore. God, I love Hope, but I love Carly too. Being with Carly, it's as easy as breathing, but being with Hope, that was a damn hard fight. There are so many things I regret, Lexi, you have no idea. So no, I don't really believe it can get any worse."

Lexi just squeezed Bo's shoulder and didn't say a word. "I need to call Doug," Bo muttered, pulling out his cell phone and dialing Doug's number. While Bo talked to Doug, Lexi got up and went into Hope's room to check her vitals.

While she was looking at the Cat-Scan results of Hope's brain, double-checking to see if there was anything she missed, Hope's vitals started beeping. Lexi whirled around and saw that her heartbeat rate was dropping, and so was everything else. It was as if she was going to sleep, but at the rate her vitals were dropping, it was going to be a permanent sleep unless Lexi could stop it.

"Give me a shot of adrenaline stat!" Lexi yelled out of the open door while a few nurses ran in, helping Lexi try to stabilize the drifting Hope.

Bo heard the yells, and he dropped his phone, staring at Hope's room as if in a trance. He heard Doug yelling at him from the dropped phone, but all he could do was stay frozen and pray harder than he ever had before in his life, as hard as he did when Zack was being operated on.

He didn't even notice when the elevator doors slid open and Doug literally ran in, followed by Julie. Both of them stood next to him and followed his gaze to Hope's room. They only stood there for a few minutes before Lexi came out, her hands covering her eyes.

They watched as she leaned against the wall and slid down until she was crouching, still covering her eyes and her body wracking with sobs. "No, please no," Bo whispered, sprinting over to Lexi and crouching down in front of her. "Lexi, please," He murmured, taking her hand and squeezing.

She looked at him with swollen eyes, shaking her head and saying quietly, "Her heart just stopped. I, I don't know why. I just don't."

Bo stood up and felt the world just stop turning. He looked over at Doug and Julie, who were staring at him with wide eyes. All Bo could do was shake his head once, and Julie fell into Doug's arms, both of them crying as Doug repeated, "My princess, not my princess, not my daughter,"

Without thinking, Bo shoved the door open to Hope's room and strode in, refusing to believe that Hope was dead. He saw a sheet covering a body on the bed, and Bo's hand trembled as he reached for it.

The face lying beneath the sheet was indeed the face of the woman he had loved for more than 25 years, and loved still. Images flashed through his head, mostly Ciara's heartbroken face when she realized that her beloved mommy was gone. Pretty much everyone in Salem would be very sad to hear of Hope's death.

Hope's death. Bo almost laughed at the irony. Hope was indeed dead, not just the person but also the hope inside of him. His hands floated over Hope's body, willing that she would open those beautiful eyes and look at him, tell him that she wanted to come home and bring Ciara with her.

All the emotions were too much for Bo, and he felt reality slipping from his grasp. Within seconds he was staggering backwards into a chair, his head falling against the wall and his eyes closing, slipping into a blissful darkness.

When Bo's eyes slowly opened back up, he was shocked at what he saw. There was Hope, his Hope, sitting on the edge of the bed, slipping her shoes on. She was wearing a pair of jeans and a brown t-shirt, looking over at him and saying,

"Hey there Sleeping Beauty,"

Bo leapt to his feet and seized Hope's arms, studying her for a moment before pulling her close to him and hugging her tightly, breathing, "Oh, thank God,"

Hope let him hug her, knowing something was wrong. She furrowed her brow and asked, "Bo? What's wrong?"

"God, I don't know what happened," He said, still holding onto her tightly.

"I do. Lexi told me that when you climbed into the ambulance to ride with me and the medics to the hospital, you collapsed. She also told me that the only thing wrong with you was an emotion overload, so she figured that it would be better that you saw me and knew that I was okay before anything else, so she set you up on a cot in here." Hope explained soothingly, gently patting his head.

"Then it must've been a dream," Bo muttered, leaning back and looking Hope straight in the eyes. She opened her mouth to ask, but Bo added, "I dreamed the medics said you broke your neck, and then Lexi told me that you were completely paralyzed and in a coma. Then when I called Doug, she yelled something about adrenaline and then came out and told me that your heart had just stopped, and that you were dead."

"Oh, Bo," Hope started to say, and Bo couldn't take it any longer, leaning forward and pressing his lips to hers, hard. She didn't even fight him, just gripped his shirt and kissed him back just a fiercely.

"Hope, I don't care if Carly's still living with me. I want you and Ciara home. I'm breaking it off with Carly. I want to raise our daughter, together, as a family, and I never want to let you out of my grasp ever again." He stated resolutely, and Hope looked at him with shining eyes, saying,

"Then we'll come home. But on one condition, okay?" Her eyes pleaded with him, and he raised one eyebrow. "We need marriage counseling." She declared quietly, and Bo hesitated, but nodded.

Hope buried her face into his chest, and he dropped a kiss on her head. "Don't ever leave me again, Hope," He begged, holding her tightly. She eased back a little and looked him straight in the eyes and said truthfully,

"Never."

**So, I hope you enjoyed this one-shot! I'm sorry if it seemed a little weird or OOC, it's, like, 3 in the morning, and when I looked it over, it seemed fine, so thanks so much for reading! I'm officially going to sleep, finally!**


End file.
